Springfield shooting suspect to be arraigned Friday

A dispute over a heroin deal led to a shooting incident Wednesday in Springfield that left one man hospitalized, according to police affidavits filed Thursday at Vermont Superior Court in Springfield.

Court papers said two men and a 16-year-old boy broke into an apartment on Summer Street in Springfield at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Leon Jiggetts, 26, of Newark, N.J., was armed with a handgun, and the teen had a baseball bat, the affidavit stated.

By the time the two men and the teen fled the scene, three residents at the apartment had been injured, including Joseph Atkinson, 19, who was shot in the torso. Atkinson remains hospitalized at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., police said Thursday.

Jiggetts, who was later picked up by police in Bellows Falls, is set to be arraigned Friday on a charge of attempted second-degree murder.

He was to be arraigned Thursday on the murder charge, along with one for burglary, but he invoked a rule that allows a suspect a one-day delay.

Jiggetts also is facing heroin-trafficking charges stemming from an ongoing Vermont Drug Task Force investigation, according to the Vermont State Police.

Jabbar Chandler, 33, of Charlestown, N.H., whom police say accompanied Jiggetts and the teen to the apartment, surrendered in his hometown Wednesday night and was held as a fugitive in the Vermont case.

Chandler is expected to be charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and burglary, police said. No date for his arraignment has been set.

The teen, identified in the police affidavit as "B.A.," has been questioned by police. There is no indication in court papers about whether he will face charges in adult court.

The youth, who spoke with investigators, said he, Chandler and Jiggetts went to the apartment because the teen was angry with Atkinson, a police affidavit said.

"Juvenile B.A. advised that he wanted to confront Atkinson about spreading rumors about him stealing from drug deals," a police affidavit stated. The teen also said Atkinson had accused him of stealing heroin.

Atkinson, interviewed by police Wednesday before being airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said he thought he had been "set up," the affidavit stated.

Amanda Booker, 24, one of the apartment occupants injured during the incident, told police Atkinson and Chandler had argued over drugs at some point prior to the shooting and that Atkinson was a drug dealer.

Booker's husband, Timothy Carleton, 20, told police Atkinson was shot soon after the three alleged assailants broke into the apartment. Carleton said afterward, one of the three pointed a gun at Atkinson's head.

"Carleton noticed his wife was bleeding from the head and jumped on Jabbar and began wrestling with him," the affidavit stated. "Then he felt something strike him in the head. He saw the man who shot Atkinson pick up the handgun, which he had dropped. ... All three men then ran out the door."

Police said the teen also spoke about Jiggetts pointing a gun at Atkinson's head after firing the first shot and telling Atkinson "he could end him right there."

"Jiggetts told B.A. to hit Atkinson and B.A. hit Atkinson with the baseball bat in what was described as the upper thigh area," the affidavit stated, describing what the teen said happened next.

Booker and Carleton received minor injuries in the melee and were treated and released at Springfield Hospital. Police said their injuries were unrelated to gunshot wounds, but did not specify what caused the wounds.